High-level delegation from Kuwait to visit India this month

Dubai: A high-level delegation from Kuwait is going to visit India later this month, which would pave the way for further economic cooperation, India's Ambassador to Kuwait, Satish C Mehta, has said.

The visit will be followed by the meeting of the Joint Ministerial Commission of the two nations in Kuwait.

Mehta said India and Kuwait enjoy friendly relations and presence of a large number of Indian expatriates continues to sustain this relationship.

Mehta was addressing yesterday a gathering on behalf of a Indian delegation which was visiting Kuwait Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) to interact with Kuwait's business community.

"Historically, India-Kuwait relations have always had an important trade dimension. India's total trade with Kuwait during 2011-12 was USD 17.56 billion, an increase of about USD 5.4 billion (which is 44.3 percent) over USD 12.16 billion during 2010-11.

Out of the total trade of USD 17.56 billion, non-oil trade accounted for approximately USD 1.9 billion (approximately). India's exports to Kuwait during 2011-12 were USD 1,181.41 million. For the second consecutive year, India's exports to Kuwait were over USD 1 billion mark," he said.

CAPEXIL (Chemical and Allied Products Export Promotion Council), an apex organisation setup by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has been sponsoring the visit of Indian delegation to Kuwait regularly for many years.

CAPEXIL deals in mineral and non-mineral sectors.

The 11-member Indian delegation, comprises of Indian manufacturers and exporters. They seek to enter into mutually beneficial trade deals with their counterparts in Kuwait.

"With India's petroleum imports from Kuwait of approximately USD 15.67 billion, Kuwait is the second largest supplier of oil from the GCC countries after Saudi Arabia and meets 10-12 percent of India's energy needs," Mehta said.

"We have sent a draft to KCCI on Partnership Agreement between FICCI, the apex Chamber of India and KCCI. We hope this would be finalised soon. This would facilitate more exchange of business delegations between our two countries," he said.

A number of Indian companies both private and public sectors are present in Kuwait, including LIC, Telecommunications Consultants India (TCIL), Tata Consultancy Services and Shapoorji Pallonji.